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Years ago, a boy born with a rare disease had to live in a plastic bubble 12 years—his entire life. Outside the bubble, he was certain to die from exposure to any germ. This helps to illustrate a biblical truth about God. We cannot enjoy the presence of God nor have a lasting relationship with Him without coming to Him as He directs us. God is perfect and impeccably holy. No one is holy enough in themselves to find acceptance with Him. To convey this truth to ancient Israel—and to us—God insisted that any worshiper must approach Him with a God-approved perfect sacrifice. All pre-Christian animal sacrifices symbolized the sacrifice God’s perfect Son would offer when He died on the Cross. In that pre-Christian era, we read in Exodus chapter 30 that God also told Moses to build an altar of incense. On it, they were to burn only God-approved incense. The incense smoke stood for the prayers of the worshipers. Those prayers could never be answered apart from burning God approved incense. This teaches us that our prayers require a mediator to make them acceptable to God. Our Mediator is Jesus Christ. God showed His approval of Him by raising Him from the dead. That is why when we pray, we come to God on the merits of His Son Jesus and pray “in His name.”
